🔗 Share this article

A man was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the first trial.